


Of Conner Kent and Actual Good People, For Once

by MissjuliaMiriam



Series: Much Needed Therapy [5]
Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Bullying, Internalized Homophobia, Kon is good people, Other, Tim's having issues with his sexuality
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-12
Updated: 2012-08-12
Packaged: 2017-11-12 00:29:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/484620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissjuliaMiriam/pseuds/MissjuliaMiriam
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tim has an encounter with Conner Kent, and then everything changes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Conner Kent and Actual Good People, For Once

**Author's Note:**

> This follows pretty closely after Maybe We Are Not Alone. I'm sorry for all the Tim feels. Enjoy.

“Hey.”

Tim looked up from his chem homework, a slice of apple half way to his mouth. Standing in front of him was a tall, muscled boy with short dark hair and clear, dark blue eyes. Tim blinked, then nearly flinched. This was Conner Kent, the star player and captain of the football team. Tim had heard what some of the other boys on the team had done to Steph, and what Jason had done to them. He couldn't help but wonder if this was Conner coming to take revenge for his teammates of one of the other Outsiders. 

“Uh,” he said, then stuffed the apple in his mouth before it was knocked out of his hand, or he was able to make any other intelligent comments.

“Look,” said Conner, one hand coming up to scratch at the back of his head. “I just, uh. I. Ugh, okay, I'm sorry I'm so stupid.”

“You're not stupid,” Tim blurted, nearly spitting apple everywhere. He blushed, then swallowed his mouthful. “You're not stupid. Don't be anxious.” It was true. Tim knew a bit about all of his classmates, and he knew that Conner wasn't stupid. In fact, he was actually fairly intelligent, on top of popular, athletic, and attractive. No one Tim had ever spoken to disliked him, not even the less popular kids.

While Tim was lost in thought, Conner started speaking again. “I heard what happened with my teammates,” he said. “And I couldn't find Stephanie to talk to her about it, and I know that you're in that group, that Counselor Grayson started. So, uh, here I am.”

“Why are you here?” Tim asked quietly. “Because if you're planning on taking revenge, please know that I have self-defense training and I will not hesitate to use it.”

“Oh my god,” said Conner. “No, nothing like that! Of course not! I just wanted you to tell Steph that I'm sorry about my dick teammates, and to tell your group that I talked to the principal. They've all been suspended, so...” He shook his head. “I couldn't find anyone else. Sorry if I startled you.”

Tim stared up at him in surprise. “Thank you,” he said. “I'm sure they'll appreciate it, particularly Steph.”

“That's great,” said Conner. “I'll, uh, I'll see you around.” 

“Yeah,” said Tim, a bit dazed. “Of course. I'll see you in class, Conner.”

“Call me Kon!” The words were tossed over the larger boy's shoulder as he walked away, and Tim couldn't help but smile.

“Tim,” he whispered. “Call me Tim.”

 

Tim took the next session as a place to tell the rest of the group. During the time that Dick gave them to tell everyone about how their week had been, after Jason had finished telling about his fight with the boys who had been picking on Steph, Tim stood up.

Dick looked a bit surprised, for good reason. Just like Cass, Tim rarely shared.

“This week, I was approached by Conner Kent, the captain of the football team.”

This caught everyone's attention immediately. “And what did he say to you?” Dick prompted.

“He offered an apology on behalf of his teammates, and told me that he had spoken to Principal Wayne and gotten them suspended,” Tim said.

Jason snorted. “I thought I hadn't seen those dicks around for a few days, but I doubt it was because of Conner Kent. Now where are the bruises, huh Tim? Or did your ninja skills keep him from hurting you?”

Tim glared. “I'm telling the truth, Jason. He didn't do anything to me. By the way, Steph, he offered his apology directly to you as well as to the group.”

She smiled. “I'll thank him next time I see him.”

Dick grinned. “I'm glad that he did that, Tim, and I'm glad that you got the interaction. Who knows, maybe he'll become your friend?”

Tim snorted as he sat back down. “Like that'll happen.” He didn't say _I wish_.

 

That was only Tim's first contact with Kon, but after that it seemed to grow more and more frequent. Conner would wave at Tim, or greet him in the halls, would invite Tim to sit with him and the rest of his friends at lunch (Tim always said no), would ask him for help with homework or classwork, and would sit next to him in the library during their shared study period (Thursday, first block after lunch). Tim had no idea what he was doing, if he was aware that he was jeopardizing his own popularity, or if the boy had just gone crazy.

It also didn't help that more and more Tim was noticing the colour of Kon's eyes, the flex of muscles in his shoulders, and the slightest bit of a rumble in his voice. It was ridiculous, and stupid, and it wasn't allowed. Conner was becoming Tim's friend, but friends didn't think about friends like this. Certainly he'd never thought about Cass or Steph this way. And besides, Kon was a boy.

So Tim sighed and squashed those thoughts down, and didn't even try to lie to himself about the fact that Kon was his friend, and he was an amazing friend, and Tim liked spending time with him. Kon was kind, funny, smart enough to keep up with Tim (most of the time). He mentioned their friendship in his private sessions with Dick, deep down hoping that Dick would find out about his crush (but it wasn't a crush, because Tim wasn't  _like that_ , he couldn't be, he had to marry and produce and heir of his own, his parents would hate him,  _no_ ) and tell him that it was just stupid, just Tim being paranoid or hyper-vigilant, and that it would go away. But beyond that, he told no one. Not even Cass. Because it was going to go away, it had to. If he told people, that would make it real. If he told anyone, others would find out. And Tim got called fag and queer and told that he probably liked it up the ass enough as it was. If that became  _real_ , Tim didn't know what he was going to do.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and kudos are welcome as always!


End file.
